The NRA comes to Emmaus

She said the United States had a ban on assault weapons for 10 years, but that ban had little or no impact on violent crimes, because those weren’t the types of guns being used in those crimes.

And gun registration “makes absolutely no sense. It isn’t going to do a single thing to stop crime.” She said law-abiding citizens will register their guns, but crack heads and gang bangers won’t.

She reported Canada spent billions of dollars to create a nationwide gun registry, but about six months ago the head of the Canadian Royal Mounted Police publicly admitted that registry had not helped solve a single murder in the entire country.

Warned Anglewicz: “The next step after registration is confiscation.”

Introduced as an avid hunter and shooter, a lifetime NRA member and an NRA employee since 2005, Anglewicz took questions from the audience for 40 minutes.

“We have never had an easy go with the media and I don’t suspect that we will,” she said in response to one comment. “Even though we know we’re invited to a media show that’s pretty much a set-up, our guys are going and they’re talking, because education is key.”

Many people attending the program seemed pro-NRA. Some wore NRA hats and two men in civilian attire were carrying holstered pistols attached to their belts.

The audience applauded when Anglewicz announced that U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid decided he was dropping a proposed ban on what CNN called “semi-automatic firearms modeled after military assault weapons.”

She said an attempt is being made in Congress to ban guns holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition. She said standard-capacity magazines are being called high-capacity magazines, which makes them sound more deadly. She said magazines that hold 10 to 30 rounds are standard from manufacturers.

She also was applauded when she said: “Why should the government dictate how many (rounds) you need? They don’t know what type of self defense situation you’re going to be in.”

At least one Lehigh County commissioner (Michael Schware) was in the audience, as were two members of the East Penn School Board (Michael Policano and Julian Stolz).

The 90-minute program was sponsored by the Concerned East Penn Taxpayers Association –CEPTA.

CEPTA tried without success to get an organization that supports more gun control to participate by debating the NRA, to provide both sides on the issue.

Moderator Giovanni Landi apologized for not being able to present a speaker for the other side of this “very important discussion.”

Landi said they tried several times to get representatives from Cease Fire PA, the Brady Campaign, Mayors Against Illegal Guns and a local mayor who signed the Mayors Against Illegal Guns petition. “We were declined. A lot of our requests weren’t even answered.”

Stolz was applauded when he announced he is running against Emmaus Mayor Winfield Iobst, because Iobst signed that Mayors Against Illegal Guns petition. Stolz said he will take himself out of the race if Iobst removes himself from that list.

“Mayors Against Illegal Guns is anything but,” said Anglewicz. She said 79 mayors have resigned from that organization when they found out it was not about getting illegal guns off the streets.

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